Senior Director, Strategic Partnerships (Chicago)

Rocket Travel is looking for a Senior Director, Strategic Partnerships to join our growing Partnership team. In this role, you’ll work closely with loyalty partners across North America, helping develop the Rocket Travel brand, evolve existing brands, and develop opportunities for growth.

About Rocket Travel by Agoda

Rocket Travel by Agoda is a travel technology company founded in 2012 under our flagship consumer facing product, rocketmiles.com. Since then, we have evolved to partner with some of the largest consumer travel brands in the world creating white-label solutions that allow customers to earn and redeem miles and points for booking hotels, rental cars, flights and activities. Our global partnerships range from world-class airlines to international banks to large-scale shopping platforms.  We help our partners develop successful go-to-market strategies through marketing expertise and data to support their overall growth. 

We attract customers from every corner of the globe with a seamless user experience that's built in-house from ideation to finished product: our team includes front- and back-end developers, customer service, data analysts, designers, marketers, accountants, partnership sales, and managers. 

Rocket Travel by Agoda is dedicated to creating a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace where everyone has the opportunity to reach new heights in their career, and expand their knowledge working alongside talented, dedicated colleagues. We encourage all applicants with a touch of wanderlust to apply to our team, as we work toward helping our travelers reach the vacation of their dreams. 

As a Senior Director, Regional Partnerships at Rocket Travel, you will: 

• Own Regional Partnerships with our white label, loyalty program partners. You’ll take on a team and set direction for the growth and optimization of partners within a designated region at Rocket Travel
• Grow existing partnerships by analyzing data at a macro and micro level, strategizing around trends, and unlocking new avenues of growth.
• Establish team and partner KPIs to guide measurements of success and track progress along the way, reporting internally and externally on what is working well and where help is needed
• Negotiate commercial terms with existing and potential new partners to create an aligned economic structure where both parties are motivated by the same success. Be a first line in contract reviews, working closely with legal teams to redline deals
• Partner with product and engineering teams to define and deliver product features, tests, enhancements and launches. Facilitate clear communication between external partners and internal teams
• Partner with leadership across the Booking Holdings group to grow strategic partnerships through collaboration and product/partner innovation
• Be a leader, acting as a manager, advocate, mentor, and peer.  Engage with direct reports, guide priorities, and provide detailed support when needed to communicate partnership direction and strategy across the company
• Bring creative thought to partnerships, working closely with each partner to drive growth across product verticals and be a subject matter expert on global travel industry
• Manage deadlines across projects. There will be short turnarounds for some projects, and longer engagements with others. Be effective in managing time and proper balance between both
• Be scrappy. We’re a small team and often wear many hats. Some projects may not be completely defined. This individual will take a resourceful approach to what’s needed and drive results

About you:

• You have 10+ years of relevant experience, preferably in B2B2C, partner management, or travel.
• You have proven experience leading, motivating, and growing a team
• You are outcome-driven, providing specific instances of when and how to lead a team and hit KPIs
• You are comfortable leading meetings and presenting to key stakeholders, leadership, and external partner stakeholders, including the executive C-suite level
• You always put the customer front and center. Customers can be a traveler, partner, or even colleague. You ensure a focus centered around solving pain points
• You have familiarity with key business tools across Google Sheets, Docs, and Slides. SQL knowledge is a plus.
• You understand business objectives. You establish goals for yourself, your team and your partners. In negotiations, you understand tradeoffs and work to create the best deal for all parties
• You have a strong knowledge of technology and product development with the ability to vary your communication based on the audience, both internal and external
• You continuously seek feedback. You have a growth mindset, are comfortable soliciting thoughts from others, and are curious to learn from a spectrum of perspectives

Note on general employment requirements

Candidates should be authorized to accept employment in the US from any employer, should be willing to start within three weeks of accepting an offer, and should be able to work the same daily working hours as our Chicago office.

A final word

If the idea of working within an environment that promotes accountability, curiosity, and community to build reward travel products sounds motivating to you, we would love to hear from you - even if you’re unable to meet 100% of the job requirements. We never expect people to have all of the answers, as long as they’re willing and able to learn and grow with us.

There are a variety of factors that go into determining a salary range, including but not limited to external market benchmark data, geographic location, and years of experience sought/required. In addition to a competitive base salary, roles are eligible to be considered for an annual bonus and equity grant.

The base range plus equity and bonus for Chicago metro area can total $193,000 - 227,000.